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HomeMy WebLinkAbout21152 1 ORDINANCE NO. 21,152 2 3 AN ORDINANCE TO LEVY FRANCHISE FEES TO BE PAID BY ALL 4 CARRIERS PROVIDING LOCAL ACCESS TELEPHONE SERVICE; 5 PROVIDING FOR THE PAYMENT THEREOF; AND FOR OTHER 6 PURPOSES. 7 8 WHEREAS,the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company,now AT&T,has for decades been authorized 9 by ordinance to operate its telephone system and all business incidental to or connected with the conduct 10 of a telephone business in the City; and 11 WHEREAS, pursuant to Little Rock, Ark. Ordinance No. 11,345 (December 17, 1962), and 12 recognizing an order of the Arkansas Public Service Commission entered on December 10, 1957,in Docket 13 U-281 relating to the treatment by the Telephone Company of all City special taxes,the City granted AT&T 14 the privilege to continue operation of its telephone system and related business within the City and first 15 provided for the payment of a privilege tax by that company of $1.07 multiplied by the number of 16 telephones in the City as of the end of the preceding year; and 17 WHEREAS, pursuant to Ordinance No. 14,981 (November 5, 1985), the City Board of Directors 18 imposed,beginning on January 1, 1986, a change in the calculation of the privilege fee for AT&T,to be in 19 an amount equal to 7.32% of the company's access line billing revenues for 1985 or a minimum of One 20 Million, Seven Hundred Seventy-Five Thousand Dollars($1,775,000),and 21 WHEREAS, subsequent ordinances thereafter incrementally raised the amount of the minimum 22 franchise fee until,beginning with Ordinance No. 16,557 (December 21, 1993) it reached the amount Two 23 Million Dollars($2,000,000),which minimum has remained in effect until the present time, and 24 WHEREAS, after a review of the current market situation, the City has determined that having a 25 minimum franchise fee is no longer appropriate and is setting the minimum aside,and 26 WHEREAS, AT&T and other telephone companies similarly providing a local access telephone 27 system in the City are now and will be occupying the streets,alleys,airways and other public rights-of-way 28 of the City for the purpose of operating and maintaining such local access telephone systems, and 29 WHEREAS,the City is legally authorized to impose,and all local access telephone services companies 30 are obligated to pay, a just and reasonable franchise fee in connection with such company's local access 31 telephone service operations in the City. 32 NOW, THEREFORE,BE IT ORDAINED BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE CITY 33 OF LITTLE ROCK,ARKANSAS: 34 Section 1. There is hereby imposed and each and every local access telephone service carrier 35 ("Telephone Company")shall pay to the City a franchise fee in an amount equal to 7.32%of the respective [Page 1 of 3] 1 Telephone Company's local exchange access line charges collected within the City's corporate limits during 2 the previous month. 3 Section 2. Payments to the City by the Telephone Company for the franchise fee shall be made monthly 4 by the 20th day of each month. 5ti, Section 3. On a monthly basis, by the twentieth (20 ) day of each month, the auditor for each 6 Telephone Company shall certify to the City that Telephone Company's access line revenues collected 7 during the previous month in Little Rock. 8 Section 4. The City recognizes and accepts the purposes and results of an Order of the Arkansas Public 9 Service Commission entered on February 7, 1980, in Docket U-30132 relating to the treatment by the 10 Telephone Company of all city special fees. 11 Section 5. It is acknowledged that Ordinance No. 11,345 (amended by Ordinance No. 14,981), which 12 set out the terms and conditions of the present privilege authority, is the controlling document over current 13 local access telephone service franchises. Ordinance No. 11,345 specifically provided that nothing 14 contained therein was to be construed as giving AT&T any exclusive privileges. Ordinance No. 14,981 15 amended Ordinance No. 11,345 to change the method of calculating the fee to that method presently 16 employed and to add a section detailing the City's utility relocation policy to be complied with.That utility 17 relocation policy shall remain in effect under this Ordinance. The Telephone Company shall also be subject 18 to the utility relocation policy set forth in Little Rock,Ark., Rev. Code §§2-350 to 357 (1988). 19 Section 6. Nothing herein contained shall be construed as altering or amending any otherrights or 20 obligations of the City or each Telephone Company as provided for in Ordinance No. 11,345 except the 21 language of Section 2 of Ordinance No. 11,345 pertaining to the method of calculating the Telephone 22 Company's annual franchise fee. 23 Section 7. Nothing in this ordinance shall prevent the City from collecting from Telephone Companies 24 previously due but unpaid franchise fees. 25 Section 8. Severability. In the event any title, section, paragraph, item, sentence, clause, phrase or 26 word of this ordinance is declared or adjudged to be invalid or unconstitutional such declaration or 27 adjudication shall not affect the remaining portions of the ordinance which shall remain in full force and 28 effect as if the portion so declared or adjudged invalid or unconstitutional were not originally a part of the 29 ordinance. 30 Section 9. Repealer. All laws,ordinances,resolutions,and parts of the same that are inconsistent with 31 the provisions of this ordinance are hereby repealed to the extent of such inconsistency including, but not 32 limited to,Little Rock,Ark.,Resolution No. 14,180(September 1,2015). 33 Section 10. Effective Date. This ordinance shall be available for public review for at least ten (10) 34 days, but in no event shall the collection of this franchise fee occur before January 1, 2016. [Page 2 of 3] 1 PASSED: December 15,2015 2 A ES. APPROVED: 3 ,. 4 Ir�;�► , G � r um- 5 u rey City Clerk Mark Stodola,Mayor 6 APPR I " I AS TO LEGAL FORM: 7 8 W 9 Thomas M. Carpenter,City Attor Rff y 10 // 11 // 12 // 13 // 14 // 15 // 16 // 17 // 18 // 19 // 20 // 21 // 22 // 23 // 24 // 25 // 26 // 27 // 28 // 29 // 30 // 31 // 32 // 33 // 34 // 35 // 36 // [Page 3 of 3]